SeverusRemus Drabbles
by PatrickMcKinney
Summary: Several drabbles around HP. Sometimes slightly alternate universe, aka, no character death! Yay!
1. Hands

Inspired by my own achy hands, that crack and creak whenever I move them despite me being half Remus' age. Arg.

Disclaimer: They're not mine. (Alas.)

* * *

Remus hated his hands. They were achy and creaky and stiff, despite being a mere 40 years old, mirroring the rest of his body in feeling twice his age. The knuckles were covered in scar tissue, a consequence of the particulars of transformation. He couldn't look at his hands some days without seeing claws forcing their way out of his knuckles as his fingers curled instinctively to blend into the rest of his hand as they became paws. They shook when he was nervous and he always had to twist them behind his back to make them stop, and they looked so rough and clumsy next to Severus's slender artist fingers.

Severus disagreed. They were strong hands, much better than his thin white ones. They were tan and broad palmed and smelled of tea. They were good for making cookies (not that Severus liked cookies of course), good for massaging away the headaches that build up behind his temples, and they were always, always warm.

And Remus is grateful Severus disagrees. He's grateful they disagree about many things, because Remus, in his heart, wants desperately to believe that Severus's opinions are right.


	2. Stalking

Challenge: Haunted

Remus was starting to wonder if long term use of the Wolfsbane potion brought on advanced psychosis.

Everywhere, he saw dark shapes whipping around corners, barely seen; he was hearing disembodied muttering, quick sharp footsteps in vacant corridors. And always the feeling of being watched, of being followed.

It was in one of the passages near the dungeons that he felt it again- like someone was right behind him, breathing down his neck. He whirled around- nothing.

Remus gritted his teeth. Enough was enough.

"Whoever the hell you are- _stop stalking me!_"

Severus sulked quietly from his hiding spot and muttered to himself.

"Stalking indeed… the nerve…"


	3. Morning

Severus moaned and shifted. He was cold (he was sure it had been warm earlier) and his head hurt tremendously and this bed had a dip in it in the most inconvenient spot-

He stilled as it dawned on him. This wasn't his bed.

He opened his eyes, blinking in protest at the light streaming in through the open window. This wasn't his room.

A dark from obscured the offensive light momentarily and the smiling face of Remus Lupin came into focus.

"Morning, Severus. Tea?" And he held forth the steaming cup.

Severus glared at him a moment, then sat up to take the mug.


	4. Pride, versions 1 and 2

Pride

Remus was worn out. Relocating the pack (_his _pack… he still wasn't used to that…) after Greyback's death was no easy task. Four weeks of traveling (on foot!) to the new holdings. He sighed and leaned against a poplar on the edge of the makeshift camp. So much left to do, making the camp permanent, outlining the territory, scouting out any other nearby colonies…

A cool hand clasped his own calloused one. Severus gave him a small smile.

"Well done. You should be proud."

Remus looked around: families settling down, children running underfoot... and he smiled, worries forgotten.

"I am."

~*~

Pain made things simple. With silver burning in his chest, Remus' world shrank to two feelings: agony and how to stop it.

So when he felt cold fingers brush blood-matted hair from his face, and a wide palm pressed against his own, trying to stop the blood, he didn't flinch away. And when strong arms lifted him from the ground he didn't try to claim he could walk on his own. Instead he reached out desperately, grasping the robes in front of him, now slick with his blood, and left his pride on the stained earth of the school grounds.

He's exhausted, but his body refuses to sleep any longer. The blackness is fading, as is, miraculously, the pain. Remus wakes up in a clean white bed, swathed in bandages, to find his mysterious rescuer asleep in a chair by his side. He stares a moment, taking in his dark hair, the warm flickering shadows from the fire across his pale complexion, and the strange absence of a scowl on his sleeping face. A smile crosses Remus' lips, and he decides that his pride can stay right where he left it, as long as Severus stays right where he is.


	5. Superstition

Arms crossed, Severus watched Remus balance precariously on a stool, hammer in one hand, a spruce branch in the other, and several nails held between his teeth.

"It's not Christmas yet you know."

Mouth full, Remus just gave him a dry look.

"Why the greenery?"

Remus took the nails from his mouth.

"Nail evergreen to the rafters of a new house," he quoted, pausing to hammer a nail through the branch and firmly into the rafters, "and you'll have good luck." He hammered in another nail.

Severus rolled his eyes. "You realize it'll drop needles everywhere."

Remus just smiled and handed him the hammer.

"What on earth are you doing? You look ridiculous."

"

Avoiding cracks in the sidewalk

Its bad luck to let a fire go out on New Year's Eve

First Footing: The first person to enter your home after the stroke of midnight will influence the year you're about to have. Ideally, he should be dark-haired, tall, and good-looking, and it would be even better if he came bearing certain small gifts such as a lump of coal, a silver coin, a bit of bread, a sprig of evergreen, and some salt. Blonde and redhead first footers bring bad luck, and female first footers should be shooed away before they bring disaster down on the household.


	6. Apple

50scenes- #39: Apple

"For you."

Remus gave Severus a ridiculous melodramatic bow and produced from his pocket… an apple.

Severus schooled his features away from bemusement into cool sarcasm.

"An Apple? This is your brilliant gift?"

"Ah, but it's not ordinary apple. It's the best apple _ever_ to be created by man."

"Or werewolf."

"Or werewolf," Remus acknowledged.

Severus paused, apple half way to his lips.

"So help me Lupin if you have done anything to this apple that your delinquent friends would have approved of, I'll…"

Remus grinned. "What? You'll what?" At Severus' exasperated but skeptical look, he smiled. "James and Sirius would be thoroughly disappointed in that apple. Just magic and love."

Satisfied, although slightly ruffled by the sentimentality of the last comment, Severus took a bite. And another bite. And another.

Remus watched Severus savor the apple, amused at his attempt to be dignified with juice on his chin. Remus reached forward and wiped a morsel off of Severus' chin with an amused smile. He knew the garden had been a good idea.

Severus contemplated rebuffing him, but opted to continue eating. It really was a very good apple.


	7. Birthmark

50scenes challenge: #06: Birthmark

Severus couldn't help but stare.

"This is…?"

Remus nodded and smiled slightly.

"My birthmark. Rebirth-mark, really." He laughed slightly as he tried to hide the flicker of fear he felt at Severus' possible reaction.

Severus, for once, barely noticed the concealed reaction. His eyes were riveted on the circular pattern of sharp-toothed scars. They were uneven, jagged, and black, marring Remus' beautiful shoulder, cutting across his left collarbone.

Carefully, Severus traced the jagged path with a finger tip, sending shivers up Remus' spine. He glanced up at Remus' hesitant face, then, more boldly, bent his head and pressed a soft kiss to his scarred shoulder.

Severus heard Remus' quiet sigh of relief, felt the lean arms relax.

Severus smiled, then bit down hard in the center of the mark.

Remus had only enough time to utter a shocked gasp before Severus lifted his head and kissed him deeply, leaving him breathless.

Pulling back slightly, Severus smirked at a wide-eyed Remus.

"Just making a rebirth-mark of my own."

Remus blinked, glancing at the angry red bite surrounded by his curse scar, and smiled.

"_Rebirth indeed…"_ thought Remus, and he turned to kiss away the smirk still hovering on Severus' lips.


	8. Detention

"I can't believe I even have some of this stuff anymore…" muttered Remus, digging through the box of his old things that had been unearthed at Sirius' old flat. It had been quiet, clean, and empty there. No ghosts lingered there for him, real or metaphorical. Not with Severus there.

"You kept _this_?" asked Severus quirking an eyebrow as he pulled a long piece of red-gold fabric from the depths of the battered box.

Remus grinned sheepishly at the sight of his old school tie.  
"I'm a packrat…" he confessed, laughing as Severus looped it around his neck, beginning to tie it.

Then, Severus looked up, a smirk on his lips, meeting Remus' eyes with an intensity that took Remus' breath away.

Severus pulled hard at the tie, jerking Remus forward sharply closer to him.

"Detention, Mr. Lupin…" Severus purred their faces inches away and his long fingers still grasping the tie like a leash. He smirked even wider. "… for overblown Gryffindor sentimentality."

Heart in his throat, and blood rushing the completely opposite direction, Remus strained a little on the lead around his neck, gaining him another sharp pull that sent desire spiking through him.  
"Yes, Professor…" He breathed. Severus smiled.


	9. Making Up

Impatient to escape the Weasley abode (Why he had agreed to accompany Remus to this blasted Christmas party was quite beyond him…), Severus searched the house for his errant husband.

"Miss Weasley, have you seen—"

He sputtered to a halt. Remus looked up at him, amused and bewildered. Eight-year-old Victoire beamed up at him, displaying her masterpiece.

Remus' face was covered in makeup.

"See? He's pretty now."

Severus gazed down at his drag-queen of a husband for a moment, before speaking.

"Red really isn't his color Miss Weasley. I would choose a lighter shade."

Victoire saluted and Remus sighed in resignation.


	10. Mind Games

Severus watched Remus pulled the disc from the black contraption, and smiled. Remus, who wasn't looking, missed the warning of his imminent doom.

"I didn't know your preferences lay in _that_ direction…"

Remus sat up, looking amused, slightly indignant and scandalized.

"Just because I like _Priscilla Queen of the Desert_ doesn't mean _I'd_ want to wear a-"

"No…" said Severus, making sure he sounded absolutely indifferent. "It wouldn't suit you."

He paused for effect before continuing. "Of course, with my legs, heels and a skirt wouldn't be _such_ a terrible idea…"

He watched Remus process the image. It looked painful.

Severus smirked. Severus, One; Wolf, Zero.


	11. Mistakes

Werewolf senses had _some_ merits; the back of his neck began to prickle. Remus turned around and promptly froze in horror. Severus was standing in the doorway.

"Severus… Erm… I can explain this…"

One black eyebrow went up. Remus cringed a bit.

"You see, I was…" But he stopped.

He'd been caught. Red-handed. There was no hiding it. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten to close the door…

Severus started to laugh and Remus wondered if his ears could catch fire.

"Oh shut up!" He muttered, relaxing the posture he'd been caught in and switching off the music.

Severus smirked in amusement. "_Air-guitaring?_ Honestly Remus…"


	12. More

Title: More  
Word Count: 100 x 2  
Rating: G  
Challenge: Silence  
Characters: Remus/Severus

The room was silent, still. The sun filtered through the white linen curtains, diffusing the room with a grey light, deepening the shadows. Severus waited in the silence. No snide remark crossed his mind, no mocking sneer passed his lips. There was no more time for that. No time for anything more, the silence reminded him. No more soft smiles, no more surprised laughter, no more chess when neither of them could sleep. No more wrenching feeling when he didn't come back, no more waiting up, no more sighs of relief. Just silence— a gaping hole, a broken puzzle piece.

Severus couldn't break the silence, couldn't accept it. 'There has to be more' he thought; 'There has to be more.' He grasped the hand on the bed, resting his head on their twined fingers, each as cold as the other. Eyes closed, Severus pled with the silence for more— just one more moment…

And then, it broke. The most beautiful sound in the world: one breath. The whole world breathed as Severus looked up, not daring to hope. Amber eyes flickered open as the man took another slow breath through parched lips. Their eyes met.

"I love you." Severus' voice cracked from disuse. Remus smiled.


	13. Not Today

Severus likes to watch him sleep. Likes to feel the weight of him on his chest, sense the blood and warmth returning to his exhausted, pale frame as the sun rises above the tree line.

It's these mornings after the moon, with Remus human and breathing softly in his arms that Severus clings to. One trial passed, another month to live.

He knows there will be a morning where the sunlight will feel cold. A morning when Remus' soft breath will still and limbs will not untwist.

Severus tightens his arms around his sleeping lover.

_Not today_, he thinks, and allows himself to drift into sleep.


	14. Shampoo

Snape vs. Lupin: SNAPE

Severus was toweling his hair dry when he felt the back of his neck prickle. He looked up sharply and had a fleeting glimpse of golden eyes inches from his face before he was flat on his back on the bathroom floor. Again.

Once he'd caught his breath (which was difficult, considering the way Remus was straddling him…) he managed a proper scowl.

"Goddamn it Remus!"

Remus smiled against Severus' neck, his nose buried in Severus' clean damp hair.

"But you smell so good…"

Severus rolled his eyes and made a note to switch to a different shampoo during the full moon.


	15. Slughorn

Considering his role in the death of the Dark Lord, Severus felt that he was entitled to rather a lot of gratitude. A little groveling here and there. He supposed that was what the Ministry was doing, but _this_, he thought, looking around at the glimmering banners and hordes of people, was a bit much.

Severus had tucked himself firmly in a dark corner of the ridiculously garish Ministry fete in _his_ honor (and, he noticed with a sneer, he didn't seem to be missed). All around wizards and witches were carrying on as if the war had never happened.

An irritatingly smug voice floated over the crowd.

"Ah yes, Severus was always rather clever in my subject…"

Horace Slughorn could be heard musing to a group of enraptured onlookers. Severus twitched as the detestable man went on.

"Of course, he did need a bit of prompting in the right direction, which I was, of course, happy to provide."

Another twitch.

"However, that temper of his is _very _unprofessional… I would be glad to—"

Severus was seriously contemplating homicide when Slughorn's idiotic commentary sputtered to a stop. Severus stared as the man slowly turned purple, and then coughed up a flurry of petals.

Several people laughed. A few of Slughorn's sycophants patted his back awkwardly as he attempted to regain his breath and his dignity. Severus looked at the flowers. Narcissus? He looked up once more, past Slughorn still coughing up stems, to see Remus Lupin slip his wand back in his pocket with a satisfied smirk. Remus caught Severus' bewildered look and raised his glass in response.

'Enjoy.' he mouthed across the room, and, grinning, he downed his drink and left the scene of the crime.

Severus smirked, and returned to watching Slughorn choke on his metaphorical ego. Perhaps he could stay a while longer.


	16. That's The Idea

"Severus…"

Severus ignored him and pretended to be asleep.

"Severus, I have to get up."

"No you do not _have_ to get up Lupin."

"I have work."

"No you don't." He draped himself more firmly over his lover's torso.

"Severus!" Remus laughed, half irritated, half amused at the petulance in Severus' voice.

Severus, still waking up, frowned. "Are you laughing at me?" He arched an eyebrow half-heartedly.

"No- well, yes. But I really do have to get—" Severus heard Remus' breath hitch as he slid his thigh firmly between his lover's legs.

"Fuck…" Remus hissed. Severus smirked lazily.

"That's the idea…"


	17. Together

Severus was angrier than Remus was about the whole thing. He'd insisted upon going with Remus, if only to glare at the receptionist at the Registry and Management of Dark Creatures office.

Remus had only smiled that infuriating surface smile at his indignation and explained that as alpha of the local pack, it made sense for the Ministry to accuse him first.

Severus snorted, but said nothing, merely striding forward as the elevator opened on the appropriate floor. It was unfair and they both knew it. He just wished Remus was still naïve enough to be angry along with him.

It was only as they started to make their way down the long hallway that Severus realized why Remus wasn't angry. He was focused on a more pressing emotion: fear.

Every face was focused on Remus, every gaze full of disgust and hatred. Remus held his head high. His only reaction was a barely-noticeable tremor, running through his body like a current.

Severus, not usually prone to public displays, reached forward to squeeze Remus' hand. He glared at the crowd. Remus smiled at him and he felt his heart give a leap.

_Let them stare, _he thought as they strode forward together.


	18. Unlikely

Prompt: The weasleys

The ceremony was truly beautiful. The sky was miraculously clear, the grass was green and Remus had managed to get Severus into something other than black.

Teddy's hair turned as pink as his face when Bill and Victoire made their way up the aisle. Victoire looked lovely in pale blue, smiling happily as her father returned to his seat.

As the ceremony began and everyone took their seats, Remus leaned over, squeezing Severus' hand.

"I never thought I'd feel this old…" He whispered with a bemused smile.

Severus rolled his eyes. "_I_ never thought I'd be related to the _Weasleys_."


	19. Well?

"Well?" Remus asked impatiently.

Severus calmly finished his page and set the heavy book gingerly on the table in their living room. His face was composed as he turned to Remus and delivered his verdict.

"I can safely say, without a trace of doubt…" he paused, searching for the right amount of vehemence. "That even after an hour of this… _book_… _especially_ after an hour of this book, that I absolutely, entirely, and completely _abhor_ Jane Austen."

Remus sighed and looked at _Pride and Predjudice_ forlornly.

Severus paused.

"Would you leave me if I burned the thing?"

"Severus!"

"Just checking."


	20. Werewolf Politics

The larger wolf was so fast Severus hardly saw him move, leaping at Remus with teeth bared. Remus was faster, already turning as the sharpened fingernails scored his bare shoulder. A hand shot out to grab one of the outstretched arms and Remus yanked the other werewolf over his head and slammed him into the dust, dropping to one knee to pin him, hands about his attacker's throat. Remus' face was twisted in a snarl, his eyes golden as adrenaline raced through his blood.

Everyone froze, watching. Some of the younger females looked frightened, although for whom, Severus couldn't say.

The pinned werewolf glared up at Remus, his fingers digging into the dry soil.

There was silence for a moment. Then Remus spoke, his voice almost a bark. "Yield."

Another moment. The beaten man relaxed and showed his palms to Remus.

The crowd sighed. Remus' look calmed, and he stood, helping the other wolf up.

"I'm Beta here Ranulf. Not you."

Ranulf nodded. Remus smiled slightly, the wolf fading from his face. "Off with you."

Severus stared, somewhat stunned. Remus caught the look.

"Werewolf politics", he said with a wry grin and strolled off like all this was perfectly normal.


End file.
